Making a meal of austerity
ONE of the more widely applauded public-spending cuts proposed by President Fernando de la Rua's government involves getting rid of the army of phantom employees who pad the payroll of the country's Congress. They are popularly called ñoquis, because they normally appear only to collect their wages on the 29th of the month—a day when, by custom, Argentines eat a bowl of the eponymous potato dumplings for good luck.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Making a meal of austerity”
From the August 12th 2000 edition
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